FolkWales Online Magazine

Mick’s Picks – Book and CD reviews

Expand the Table of Contents (below) to find the review you want MARCH 2024 MALIN LEWIS Halocline Hudson Records HUD051CD www.malinlewis.co.uk Malin Lewis hits on a description as “a pioneering queer bagpiper, instrument maker and composer”, and requests that personal pronouns should be addressed as “they/them”. Malin certainly is a remarkable musician and an inspiring…

Other Voices TV series is coming from Kerry to the West Wales coast

Ireland’s internationally-acclaimed music festival television series, Other Voices, is coming to Cardigan this autumn. The much-loved programme makes its way from Dingle on the west coast of Ireland to Cardigan on the west coast of Wales, for a phenomenal weekend of music which celebrates the longstanding cultural and musical ties between these Celtic regions. Over…

Welsh wizards Alaw bring the house down at Festival benefit night

ALAW, MORFA, MANSANT: Tredegar House Folk Festival Benefit Night, Newport Folk Club, Fugitives Sports Club, Rogerstone Newport Folk Club played welcoming hosts to a jam-packed, memorable and celebratory  night, just bubbling and brimming over with feel-good, joyous and utterly ingenious music from Wales and further beyond. The evening proudly advertised Tredegar House Folk Festival, which…

Mighty Pendevig! 15-musician juggernaut plans to turn Welsh trad music on its head

“There’s a thriving music scene in Wales at the moment, and we want to bring that energy onto the Pavilion stage this year” – these are the words of Angharad Jenkins, member of award-winning folk band, Calan, and one of those involved in creating Pendevig, a brand-new 15-musician-strong juggernaut starring some of Wales’s leading players.…

Roots Unearthed crowds welcome Gretchen, the super spot-on songwriter

GRETCHEN PETERS: Roots Unearthed, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, June 12, 2018 Gretchen Peters is glad to be touring Wales and other parts of the UK, far away from the gloomy administration-led unpredictability, uneasy violence and irrational madness that has damaged her country’s reputation and honour so much. As she and her three-man band finally closed…

Oliver, Jamie and Dylan set to perform in Royal Albert Hall; UK and Euro tour dates ready

Spectacular Welsh trio Alaw have been invited to play at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part the BBC Proms on August 3, 2018. They join a mouth-watering line-up, including Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, Irish musician Jarlath Henderson, Sam Lee, The Unthanks, the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Stephen Bell. The trio has been playing together since 2013,…

Allan Yn Y Fan and the Miners make this one of those perfect nights

ALLAN YN Y FAN: Blackwood Miner’s Institute, March 28, 2018 Widely regarded as one of Wales’ foremost traditional bands, since their formation in 1996, Allan Yn Y Fan have taken Welsh traditional music all over the world (writes Dave Chamberlain). This Wednesday, however, saw the band performing closer to home with a gig at one of their favourite…